The World’s Most Perfect Food…

When I was a kid I was never really a chocolate addict. I liked it but I much preferred things like lemon bars or more savory items like popcorn. As an adult, I’ve learned to enjoy white chocolate, dark chocolate, and everything in between.

I loved the stone ground quality of this chocolate and I loved that the company was dedicated to making a sustainable mexican-style chocolate. Win-Win Taza.

I was happily surprised to get an email a few weeks ago inviting me to take a tour of Taza with the Yelp Elite group. Yes please, and give me a +1!

My date for the night, Karen, and I were treated to a tour of the facility, some snacks, and a few chocolate cocktails.

Before we entered the factory, we were given some awesome hairnets to wear. This bowling ball of a head and hairnets are uber sexy, no?!

All of the cacao beans come from the Dominican Republic. They smell just lovely.

Next up was the roasting of the beans. These machines were found in the Dominican Republic at a candy factory that was shutting down, cleaned up and brought back to the states. What a great way to make use of perfectly good machines!

Checking out the cacao beans in the raw.

The next part of the tour was to see where the melting magic happened and “chocolate liquor” is made.

Finally, it was the tempering part of the process.

Wow…chocolate is messy! Smells super yummy but amazingly messy.

After the tour, we were treated to some sampling and treats. Samples and I are BFF. I love Sample Saturday at Costco!

One of my favorites was the Guajillo Chile. It had a nice spicy flavor right at the end and provided an awesome kick.

Russell House Tavern provided the cocktails. I was just there last week and was pleasantly pleased with their drinks so I was happy to see this name in the mix again.

The cocktail was a lovely mixture of Karlsson’s Gold Vodka and Chocolate Mexican Extract.

The event at Taza was super organized and despite the crowd, we were still able grab a few bites to eat.

I managed to get home with a bag full of tasty treats and a fully belly. If that doesn’t scream a festive night, I don’t know what does!

Big thanks to Karen for being a great hairnet buddy. Its working for you. Seriously.

QOTD: Do you like to do factory tours? I love tours of breweries, wineries and food joints. So fun to see where your food and drink come from!